20 May, 2009

Sorry for the long silence since the last post. Not too much exciting stuff going on, though I've been recently occupied with changing my immigration status from "turista" to non-immigrant student, basically an FM-3 that's a little easier to obtain than other immigration documents. Getting this thing is going to require jumping through a few hoops--a lot of redundant copying, tiny little passport photos, carta personal to say that yes, I do want to work and live and stay here in Mexico. Also puts me out about $300, but its well worth it. Not only do I have the coverage when I'm doing research or working on a field project, but I no longer have to deal with 6 month tourist visas that sometimes overlap, and it only takes $50 to get the sucker renewed each year.

Thankfully in this process I have Berta,la mujer extraordinaire, to help me out. She's going to help me with getting the formal letter from the Foundation's Yucundaa project and the letter proving that I have a place of residence here. So, the only big hoop to jump through is getting an apostille (Thanks Hague convention) for my master's degree to prove its legit. This is proving to be slightly difficult although not daunting--thankfully I have some people who are willing to take care of it, just not at the time I need them to do so. So I'm hunting my brother down, trying to get in touch with him to ask him the biggest favor in the world.

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A little something about me....

This is the journal of an archaeologist-in-training and PhD candidate at the University of Arizona. Currently I am living in Oaxaca preparing for the next phase of my PhD career, the dissertation research project. I have a little site up in the Mixteca Alta region that I'm hoping will tell me a lot about the transition to urbanism in this area.

Aside from that I spend my time enjoying myself in la tierra de pasión y calor. This blog is about being a graduate student and living it up in Oaxaca. All opinions are my own. Let the adventure begin.